catch2/docs/tostring.md

48 lines
2.0 KiB
Markdown
Raw Permalink Normal View History

2014-12-09 19:54:35 +01:00
# String conversions
Catch needs to be able to convert types you use in assertions and logging expressions into strings (for logging and reporting purposes).
Most built-in or std types are supported out of the box but there are two ways that you can tell Catch how to convert your own types (or other, third-party types) into strings.
2014-12-09 19:54:35 +01:00
## operator << overload for std::ostream
This is the standard way of providing string conversions in C++ - and the chances are you may already provide this for your own purposes. If you're not familiar with this idiom it involves writing a free function of the form:
2014-12-12 09:29:21 +01:00
```
std::ostream& operator << ( std::ostream& os, T const& value ) {
2014-12-09 19:54:35 +01:00
os << convertMyTypeToString( value );
return os;
2014-12-12 09:29:21 +01:00
}
```
2014-12-09 19:54:35 +01:00
(where ```T``` is your type and ```convertMyTypeToString``` is where you'll write whatever code is necessary to make your type printable - it doesn't have to be in another function).
You should put this function in the same namespace as your type and have it declared before including Catch's header.
2014-12-09 19:54:35 +01:00
2015-05-20 19:12:40 +02:00
## Catch::StringMaker<T> specialisation
If you don't want to provide an ```operator <<``` overload, or you want to convert your type differently for testing purposes, you can provide a specialization for `Catch::StringMaker<T>`:
2015-05-20 19:12:40 +02:00
```
namespace Catch {
template<>
struct StringMaker<T> {
static std::string convert( T const& value ) {
return convertMyTypeToString( value );
}
};
2015-05-20 19:12:40 +02:00
}
```
## Exceptions
By default all exceptions deriving from `std::exception` will be translated to strings by calling the `what()` method. For exception types that do not derive from `std::exception` - or if `what()` does not return a suitable string - use `CATCH_TRANSLATE_EXCEPTION`. This defines a function that takes your exception type, by reference, and returns a string. It can appear anywhere in the code - it doesn't have to be in the same translation unit. For example:
```
CATCH_TRANSLATE_EXCEPTION( MyType& ex ) {
return ex.message();
}
```
2014-12-09 19:54:35 +01:00
---
[Home](Readme.md)